More than 15,000 displaced by Indonesia flood

Jakarta, Dec 26 (Xinhua) More than 15,000 people have been displaced by floods in Indonesia’s Sumatra island, the disaster management agency said here Friday.Heavy rain caused rivers to overflow and submerge thousands of houses in South and East Lampung provinces, an official of the agency said.

The official said that the displaced people had taken shelter in their relatives’ houses and other buildings on higher ground.

Floodwaters also inundated hundreds of hectares of shrimp ponds and rice fields, he said.

Indonesia has been frequently hit by floods because of lack of forest-cover. Illegal logging and illegal plantations have been blamed for the forest loss in Indonesia.

The government is struggling to cope with the problem by planting over 100 million trees.